TEENS GO GREEN began in 2007 as a way to take the SR2S program to the next level, literally – to middle schools and high schools in Marin. At Teens Go Green, we believe that students are a powerful group. They have excellent ideas, exceptional energy and drive to get things done. We partner with teens interested in the environment to bring reduced CO2 and healthy lifestyles to their schools. We do this through participation in clubs, morning walk and roll events and contests, occasional bike field trips, and inspiration from smoothies made on our bike blender.

Transportation Nation – The Amazing Bus Race

Students from the Terra Linda High School of Environmental Leadership hosted the Amazing Bus Race, Transportation Nation, event on Saturday, December 6. The race followed weeks of preparation with presentations to 120 of their peers on the benefits of using public transit and some tools for using transit. The event had eight teams with 32 student participants. Every team took a minimum of two Marin Transit buses and learned how to use Google Maps to plan for bus routes/times and how to use Day Passes / transit passes. The winning team of four students won GoPro Cameras. Additionally, students used a Spin the Wheel game to educate an estimated 60 community members on Marin Transit while the race was occurring. This program is funded by a Spare the Air Youth grant and Marin Safe Routes to Schools.

The Team from School of Environmental Leadership

The winning team

Drake Students Warn Against Distracted Driving

The hazards of distracted driving became very real for students at Drake High School as they heard the compelling story of a grieving father who lost his daughter. Bobby Augusto, whose daughter Kimberly was a former student at San Marin High School was took her eyes off the road one fateful night to look at a text message on her phone. She lost control of the car and crashed into a guard rail.

This assembly was part of a week long campaign held from February 11-15 by the Peer Resources Class, with assistance from the Transportation Authority of Marin’s Safe Routes to Schools Program. AT&T supplied the speaker as well as a simulator for students to try and text and drive. All of the students who experimented with the simulator crashed.

On Tuesday, 15 students were pulled from class during the day, representing the statistic that 15 people die each day due to distracted driving. When they returned to class their faces were painted white and they could not speak for the rest of the day.

Students were asked to sign a pledge not to text and drive and received a bumper sticker that read “Arrive Alive. Dnt txt n drv." They also created a video that portrays the loss and grief of texting and driving, which was shown on Friday. The video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QM-O7oC-Gg

The distracted driving program will be repeated later this spring at San Rafael High (May 16th) and at Tam High School (April 29th and May 1st).